1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit package.
2. Description of Related Art
Integrated circuits (ICs) are typically housed within a protective plastic or ceramic package. The package may have pins or outer surface pads that are coupled to corresponding features of a printed circuit board. The pins carry power and digital signals between the circuit board and the integrated circuit located within the package. The package will typically have a plurality of pins dedicated to digital signals, and a separate set of pins dedicated to power and ground. The number of power and ground pins are defined by the amount of power delivered to the integrated circuit. Generally speaking, more pins are required to provide an additional amount of power to the IC. Adding pins increases the size of both the package and the overall printed circuit board assembly.
Some printed circuit board assemblies utilize a socket assembly which is mounted to the printed circuit board. The socket assembly contains a plurality of individual conductive sockets that can receive the pins of an integrated circuit package and couple the package to the printed circuit board. The socket assembly allows an end user to readily attach and decouple an IC package from a printed circuit board. IC packages that contain large integrated circuits such as a microprocessor typically have a relatively large number of pins to satisfy the power and I/O (digital input/output) requirements of the IC. Each pin has an associated insertion force that is required to attach the package to the socket. An IC package with a large number of pins therefore requires a relatively large insertion force to plug the package into the socket. It would be desirable to provide an integrated circuit package that requires a lower insertion force than packages in the prior art. It would also be desirable to provide a packaging concept that allows an integrated circuit to draw more power without requiring more pins for the package.